Courtesy Seannie Bryan
Audio By Carbonatix
Sarah Tudzin is the founding vocalist, guitarist and consummate creative force behind the L.A. indie pop-rock band illuminati hotties, but she won’t acknowledge whether she’s a member of a secret society or cult.
“If I told you, I’d have to…you know,” she jokes, as she and her bandmates Tim Kmet (drums), Sapphire Jewell (guitar and vocals) and Zach Bilson (bass) make the drive north from their Southern California home to Vancouver to open for indie supergroup boygenius (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus) on a string of shows. The tour comes to Red Rocks on Saturday, August 5.
Tudzin can’t help but laugh at her band’s spicy moniker, but explains that the alliterative name simply rolls off the tongue nicely, so she went with it.
“I just thought it was funny and sounded good together. It was on a list of dumb band names in my phone,” she says. “I started using it, and now, for better or worse, I’m stuck with it.”
After graduating from Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where she studied percussion, Tudzin became a producer, mixer and audio engineer. Her day job has allowed her to work with a variety of artists, including Coldplay, Barbra Streisand and Lady Gaga. She’s also earned songwriting and production credits on Slowdive‘s 2017 self-titled album as well as 2023’s the record, by boygenius. Being so involved in the recording process only helped Tudzin bring the illuminati hotties vision to life in 2017.
“I grew up playing a lot of instruments in and out school, so there was a lot of collaboration and learning with my friends,” she says of her musical background, which also includes playing piano growing up. “Then I got involved in the studio world. … That involved a lot of learning how to do it all myself in order to just finish recordings. Then finishing records turned into making a project with the songs I’ve been writing on my own. Then that turned into a band that’s been touring all the time. So I’ve been able to do a little bit of everything.”
It all “seemed pretty natural,” she adds, given that “music has always been my main form of creativity, and just superimposing it on what makes the most sense for my life at the time is second nature.”
After releasing sophomore album Let Me Do One More in 2021, Tudzin and illuminati hotties shared the new single “Truck” last month. The idea behind the “road-trip-core” tune, as she calls it, “came from truly trying to write a great and classic song that doesn’t really feel like it’s a part of any time period as much as something that could exist across time periods and be relevant.”
The indie vibes are undeniable, and reminiscent of a more analog time when sharing music consisted of physical CDs and making mixtapes (illuminate hotties released its own version of a “mixtape” in 2020 called FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For). That’s why Tudzin didn’t sprinkle too much studio magic over the latest track.
“The goal there was to keep it easy, let the song speak for itself and not go too crazy in the computer world, but just sort of track it so the band sounds great,” she explains, adding that it’s cruising music “that feels good to listen to no matter the circumstance.”
As a professional music maker, Tudzin takes pride in listening to a wide variety of styles and genres and being “well versed across the spectrum of music.”
“There’s so much to learn,” she says, adding that she’ll throw on everything from classical music and more experimental ambient to chart-topping contemporary artists such as Doja Cat and Taylor Swift.
“I try to listen to everything. I really mean that. I feel like it’s a part of my job to just know as much music as I can and know what people are referencing when they come into the studio to work with me,” she continues. “Part of that is keeping up on what’s popular and knowing the deep references of recorded history. It’s a little bit of everything. I feel like every time I send people playlists, they’re like, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that to be on there.'”
Even though she has a diverse résumé and toolbox to pull from at this point, Tudzin still considers herself a drummer first, since she’s “most schooled” on the instrument. But her guitar chops aren’t far behind.
“I also have not practiced [drums] in a long time, and feel like I’m probably equally skilled at drums and guitar now, which is medium at best,” she modestly admits.
Touring and playing to sold-out crowds is a form of practice, though, and illuminati hotties has been doing a lot of that lately. After opening for boygenius, the band is heading to Australia this month for a run with Aussie singer-songwriter Alex Lahey. On top of being on the road, illuminati hotties is finding time to focus on its next release, too.
“I definitely have been working on upcoming music,” Tudzin says. “There’s not really a timeline, but the wheels are turning.”
illuminati hotties, 8 p.m. Saturday, August 5, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway. Tickets are $176-$2,188.
